Decking the Halls

The Living Room tree is finished with the theme of "Heavenly Muisc". Blue and white light twinkle with blue ribbon, music notes and various instruments hung around the tree .

The Entry tree theme is "Tools of the Trade"- the ornaments are either tools or toys. Daddy uses tools to build and little Tim builds with toys. So we have tools and toys for 2 Tim's. Can you say that three times quickly!

Downstairs are the three little trees that the kids get to decorate with their favorite ornaments!
The halls of the house are decked out for the holidays!
The Department 56 village is up, the navity scene set, and the outdoor lights are up. Even Santa is standing by the light post next to the North Pole sign. The stockings are hung by the chimney, and the snow globes all cleaned off. This week will be bake and clean time to get ready for the Manning Family Christmas!

Family Sucess Stories

I Teach Tech

In the profession life of a teacher there are no yearly bonus checks, and very little positive feedback on how well we do our job. So I was very pleasantly surprised to have an article my kids at St. Mark wrote last year published in the Macul Journal, and next door to it a Spotlight profile on my teaching philosophy. If you read the article my kids wrote you will see me refereed to as Kelley Irish which is my on-line screen name. The Spotlight however uses my real name. I share them here not to brag (well maybe a little) but to show off all the wonderful learning projects and skills teachers use to help reach, motivate and teach their classes.

Terri Mellinger Kalamazoo Township Supervisor

The township officials who first offered and then took away Terri's retirement-now work for her. You have to hand it to Terri-when the township started to close meetings and go against their own policies-Terri did not take it laying down. Instead she ran for office and now has the ability to illicit positive change Congratulations to the new township Supervisor and my Sister in law Terri DeBoer Mellinger! After all that township put her through-she is still dedicated to making things better!

Christa Plans on Getting Married

Congratulations to Christa and her fiancee . I believe they have 7 months until they get married

Happiness is a new Stove

After living 3 months without an oven- I actually missed cooking or should I say baking. .After all there is just so much you can cook on a stove top or grill.

For many month's there was simply no way we could afford to get it fixed. Now we had options-blessed options. I know most people to get a new job celebrate BIG. But for me to be able to cook again is a huge blessing. So,after figuring out that a service call to fix the range would be $75.00-and then the part would have to be ordered-we checked on the Internet and found out that the heating element (that was broken part) was on back order-it was time to get a new stove. I picked a nice shinny stainless steal one. (Which means of course I will need to get a matching frig later) So tonight I cooked lasagna -so should I say baked it. KayLee and I stopped at the grocery store and she looked up at me and said, "I never thought I would be this excited over an appliance!" Timmy ran and got cookie dough-I guess we are making cookies tonight as well.

I have never been "the cook".

There are a couple of good reasomns why: my family are picky eatter. It seems like whenever I would cook for hours I would get- "I don't like that!". In my old neighborhood where we all new each other the neighbors used to to joke the got the best meals because my kids only liked burgers, hot dogs and chicken. After a while it just plain gets discouraging-so you end up just producing the same old thing time and time again-because you know they will eat it. However catching the last part of a food network show and actually having a stove-

I share my Grandma's easy Glazed Ham!

Go and Get-

1.In one of those huge tall chicken pots place a ham. I like to get the ones from the butcher that are tied with string!

2. Pour 2-3 two liter bottles of Ginger Ale over the ham and simmer for almost 4 hours. ( remember it's pork)- I saw this on the food network. I think grandma use 7-up.But I do remember the sprinkling with ginger.

Glaze

I don't have exact measurement for the glaze as grandma never used measurements-

1. In a bowl combine a jar of orange marilaid

2. A small handfull of ginger,

3. A bunch of brown sugar. The darker the brown sugar-the less you need. I used about 1/2 of the bag.

Place the glaze over the ham and bake in the pre-heated oven for around 30 minutes on 400.

It is such a pretty ham-and since it has been boiled and baked-it tastes as good cold as it does hot.

(Of course I had to scrap all the glaze off Timmy's piece and even wash it off underr the sink so it was "regular". Everybody did actually eat it!

Since I am off to Kalamazoo for Thanksgiving with family- I may even get brave and creative with the potatoes, salad rolls, and pie's I am bringing.

No worries folks-there is no way I will become a real cook-not enough time! Between teaching, correcting papers, and all those Tech Support favors (becaue our tech guy is MIA most of the time,) adding in hours of homework help for my ADD son in private school and I am just lucky on the days I can crawl between the sheets before midnight.

But since I now have a really pretty new oven range- maybe I can be motivated-occassionaly!

KayLee turns 21

Today she is off with her friends-to "experience 21" Which I believe is likely to include some drinking. Hard to believe because when I look at her I still see the child at the left and not always the lovely young women she has become. We woke her up this morning with a birthday cake. She was presented with a birthstone ring-A citrine with two amethyst stones on either side. The 2st birthday deserves a little something special -a memento to remember a passing of childhood into adulthood. Wish it could have been a car-yet on the other hand the car will eventually die and get replaced-Hopefully she will keep the ring for a lifetime. We did add a necklace and matching earrings-but putting the ring on somehow made her look all grown up. Daddy through in a 25 dollar gift card to a restaurant-hoping the addition of food on 21st might be helpful! When they are little you just never think about them growing up . She will always be my baby girl.

Lessons from Hell

Character is what you have left when you've lost everything you can lose. -Evan Esar

As all of you know who read this..(and according to my stat counter that is around 50 people.) you know that Tim and I made it through a very difficult 16 month's of unemployment . Managing to live without his 65,000 dollars a year was well-challenging. I am so proud that we managed to keep the house-making the payment maybe late but never behind! No bankruptcy! During this time period it also seemed that everything that could break did. Kaylee's car died, Tim's truck require a 800 dollar repair to fix an oil leak, the furnace died -need a huge $$ repair, the AC broke, the oven died, and then my favorite-the pool heater blowing up. If the darn pool would have ran without the heater that puppy would not have been fixed.

Along the with all the worry there were some precious moments of kindness. Tim's brother bought the kids 3 gifts each for Christmas last year. -so sweet and something they will always remember. A gift card came in the mail before Christmas for $25.00 for Timmy, no name given to thank. Just in time so we could buy him boots! People at work brought in coupons and we started a coupon drawer anyone could use-but I knew they did it for me! The Lutheran school allowed Timmy to attend for 100 dollars a month until Tim got a job, and Kaylee's employer at Family Fare gave her the employee discount card even though she was part time. There was also a dear friend who took a day off from work and treated me to a pedicure in February- a luxury of time and friendship. While some of you may feel that these were not huge $$ gifts-they meant so much. They wrapped us in love and care and provided for a very important ingredient-HOPE. There were also countless prayers we appreciated, and then finally the gift of a job for Tim.

I will admit I was one of those people when someone lost their job -I that felt that they could certainly find something quickly if they just looked. I also thought that people got themselves into financial problems by not planning or saving. I believed that employers would do the right thing and if they didn't and lied, the truth would come out. Wow, what a wake call-we became one of "those people". He looked and looked-even applied at gas stations. Nothing worked. See we had saved and had the money in liquid savings. We had a 401 K of investments. We were prepared. we would be fine. We had an employer who told Tim he would be laid off and we saved until they let him go 8 months later-and stood in amazement when they told the unemployment office they fired him-still believed when we appealed he would get the benefits we had both paid into all of our working lives- but no- the judge said he didn't know who to believe so he sided with the company because Mich needed it's employers. The weeks turned into months and then we even passed the year mark.

After the shock, came the denial, shame, and then depression. Every morning getting up praying Tim would get a job, the cars would run, and having to answer the question every single day from well meaning people-Does Tim have a job yet? And seeing the look in so many faces ---what is wrong with him. Other's would outright state, "Why is it taking him so long?" Then there are all those judgments made by people who have always had a job-it is apparently comforting to somehow blame the victim-that way the thought it might happen to them can be pushed back. I recently read a blog [post where a person actually said, why should her tax dollars be used to help out people like me - since after all she had never made a late payment. I get it-it's all about everyone feeling they need only to take care of themselves, and others should do the same. Personal responsibility-When it's not possible-well tough- it's not my fault nor my responsiblity. I will admit after reading the post I cried. I am one of those people. OMG I never wanted to be-but I am now one of the ones who failed-who weren;t responsible enough-didn't plan well enough-I am to blame-I am of course not worthy of any kind of assistance-that is left for corporation and people who make over 250,000 a year.

I now accept we are "one of those people!" I am even learning to embrace it. I believe as Jesus said-whatever you do to least of my brothers-that you do unto me. As a nation we seem to have no problem funding the wars, bailing out Wall Street, and the Auto Industry. But mention helping homeowners get their missed mortage payment added on to the end of their loan and allowing them to catch up-and it seems akin to treason. At the very least people scream we are going to become a socialist state. What would Jesus do?

As we finally find ourselves able to see hope and even after January begin to save again... I have learned.
1. We are the government..it's our tax dollars and we need to speak up-yell even -what we want our money spent on. I wrote a very long letter about IGA spending our bailout money on a celebration party!
2. Liberal is not a dirty word-it can mean open minded.
3. Politics are not as simple as right and left, blue verses red, Democrat verses Republican.
4. Most American's are Moderates like me and we really have no Political Party
5. People who say money doesn't solve problems-have lots of money and they intend on keeping it.
6. People who chose not to fund public education for the poor- do not see the relationship between poor schools and the growth in prison populations, where we now fund them the same child at 30,000 a year.
7. 401 k's for retirements are mistake-you can lose you butt- If market trends remain-it makes more sense to put money into a IRA.
8. If we believe in a right to life-it also means we have the responsibility of making it the right to a decent life.
9.There really are people who believe in a right to life and the death penality and see no contradiction there
10. Many who have not walked in your shoes will judge you-don'tallow them to make you feel ashamed. - There by the grace of God and the Global economy could be most any of us.

From now on when someone I know loses a job-I will not ask them how I can help-cause I know they will never ask. Instead-I will pay it forward and send them a gift card. I will not continue to ask i f they have a job yet-instead I will say call me when you get your new job so we can celebrate. I guess you could say I've become more open minded-okay go ahead and call me a liberal- What I really am is a working mom just trying to raise three kids and live out the values I believe in. Maybe not red-nor blue- Perhaps Purple?

Sunrise Sunset

I wake up on these November mornings and drive Kaylee to college at GVSU, and myself to work-in the dark. The days blooms as I pull into the parking lot at school and some days I have time to pause and watch the sun rise and spill it's golden rays over the countryside. Just before 5:00 I pick Kaylee up and sometimes we get to see the sun set-usually as we pass through downtown.

Living on one side of town and working on the other allows one to see many parts of the city. It is an almost magical place at sunrise and sunset. As the colors dance and play along the skyline is gives the place a touch of wonder-of promise. Soon the trees will be wrapped in a cool white blanket. To witness these daily little miracles one cannot help but marvel at God's work. It amazes me that science is often so in contrast in religion when one only has to behold the magic in the everyday events to see the greater power behind them. I expereince these moments and it brings to mind how precious is the place we call home. In that special place between earth and sky, between the known and the believed... lies a resting place for our souls. In thanksgiving for this day...I remain...in Your Grace

Veterans Day

A few gave all for their country...

They were brothers, sisters, daughters, sons, mothers,fathers, and grandparents. I know today will be full of tributes, of day long honoring of those who have served our country. This remembrance is important but not at the expense of the other 364.Did you know about one in four homeless people are Veterans. By removing the barriers to housing combined with faster access to affordable housing we can do something about this social injustice, and we don't have to wait for a holiday either. We are talking about nearly 200,000 people at any one time . On any given day. Even today. Perhaps especially today.
There is a lot of talk in the field about how we will be able to accommodate all the men and women who will be returning from combat. We've seen so many soldiers in trouble already and there's still a long way to go. All of us who have supported this war-will we support the ones who fought it

My third greatgrandfather a railroad conductor was granted a commission and served under Grant before Grant was promoted to Commander of the Union forces. Meanwhile serving under him was another grand father Anthony Thomas Manning. I wonder if they ever met or knew their families would be joined in later generations. In my memory were stories of war my Grandpa Loew told while serving in the Navy, my Aunt Etta May telling of quiting college to become a WAVE in WWII. She never did managed to finish college-life got in the way. My Uncle Freddy listed in the history books as firing the test Nucleat canon-Radiation damage that many felt lead to an early death. My mother's first and best love died on the Oklahoma, he wrote I Love you Pat on the bulk head. My mother in Hawaii at the time as a civilian worker for the Navy-watched the planes that bombed Pearl.

I had cousins who served in Vietnam, a war that changed them forever, a Father in Law who fought in Korea and a husband who volunteered in the Navy. In almost all of these cases they put aside personal wealth and gain-to serve.

In my Family thank you to:

Captian . George Henry Dunning Union-Civil War

Mjr Anthony Manning-Union Civil War

Wilbur Loew- WWI Navy Petty Officer

Robert Loew -Marine Vietnam

Timothy DeBoer Navy-Korean War-

Etta May Manning WAVE WWII

Fredrick Manning

Bill Dunning Col Marine Corp

Jim Dunning Marine

Robert Dun- Navy WWII

John Coggin-Navy WWII

Tim DeBoer -Navy Petty Officer

Skip Coggin-Army Vietnam

David Darby-Army Special Forces Vietnam

Richard Popma Navy

Freind- Special Forces Kerrigan

FLU

Does it feel like everyone around you has a cold? Turns out that might be true, and Google has the data to prove it.

The search engine giant on Tuesday launched Google Flu Trends, which will provide up-to-date flu-related activity estimate for all 50 states in the U.S. Google will combine flu-related queries entered into its search engine with data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track cases of the flu throughout the country.

"We found that there's a very close relationship between the frequency of these search queries and the number of people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms each week," Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebbi, Google software engineers, wrote in a blog post. "As a result, if we tally each day's flu-related search queries, we can estimate how many people have a flu-like illness."

I guess the fact that I know this probably qualifies me as a huge GEEK- But gee- where the flu is strongest is information I need to know-!

After Election Ponderings

I am one of those voters so often refered to as swing voters. I guess that comes from the fact that I have never felt either political party represented my views. I chose a profession where I knew I would never make "good money"-but I do not decry the people who made other choices and for them gathering wealth is important. After all , I will never be able to donate enough money to build a museum! Having worked in the inner city I truly "get" the cycle of poverty . I am all for offering a hand up-just not a hand out. I believe in a right to life-but take it one step further-I believe in the right to a decent life! Which means funding education and health care for kids. I am either a left leaning conservative-or a moderate democrat. I would rather fund education than prisons, rather build roads than great government buildings, and think that government should allow the churches to handle issues of morality. Remeber when people felt shame? Now-a-days- no one is to blame or responsible for anything.

So elections for me usually end up with a check sheet where I check off which candidate most closely represents my views-or another way of putting it-I vote for the lesser of two evils.

What has amazed me most about this elections turns out to have little to do with either Mc Cain or O'Bamah. What has amazed me is the amount of time and press given over to basically sensless dribble. I really could have cared less than Hillary wore pant suits and could never figure out why that was even a topic of discussion. Next came all the to do about Sarah Palin's shopping and the RNC buying her clothers, and finally way too much discussion over Michelle Obamba's black and red dress. I mean really folks... we are dealing with global warming, a Michigan econmony bordering on melt down, a war with no apparent exit strategy, a declining dollar,and a housing market that basically chewed up most of our investment-and we want Sarah Palin to give back a couple of outfits?

So while the nation is busy patting themselves on the back that we have risen above racism to elect an African American President-we sure have nothing to be proud about when we examine the way we treat female candidates!. I am not a Hillary fan-(basically just don't buy into the socialized medicine) but no male candidate had to tolerate the attention to her dress, whether or not she should cry, or discuss the role of first husband. Now much of this was laid squarely at the feet of the ultra right wingers-then enter Sarah Palon who was herself a right winger. She faired no better than Hillary. While critisms of her intelligence and experience may well have been on point-notice how most of what we know about Sarah had to do with clothing. She came down from Alaska where -well it's so damn cold nobody really cares what you dress like-and is thrown into a 9 week media frenzie. She gets criticized for answering the door in a towel-when other candidates were messing around while their wife was dying from cancer. Next they take her shopping in the "Best Stores"-and folks of course she spent alot-those places don't even put price tags on everything. Frankly I think it is in really poor taste to ask her for the clothing back! I am thinking most people would not want to wear cast off designer underware!



Even Ophra has taken a hit for standing up for her candidate with much discussion about the "Oprah Factor". Gee Powell had more influence on decision than Oprah did! But the implication in all of this is pretty darn clear-women enter politics at a huge disadvantae and are criticised for things that are not even looked at in male candidates. So while as a nation we celbrate change, hope and new ideas-we still have a long way to go- in the way we treat female candidates. It appears that the glass ceiling is quite thick and bullet proff.

November News

Timmy Aunt Klio and Aunt Jean

It's a month of Birthdays. My Timmy turned 11 on November 6th; Cousin Christine Bartrum on November 3rd; Denise Pray November 12th; KayLee turns 21! on November 16th; Klio Bursma on Novemver 21st; Brianna Mellinger on November 29th, Christa Pray on November 30th;Cousin Bill Manning on November 30th!





Birthdays are never complete until you've said 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday gal or boy! So go ahead and do just that-send them an email, call them or just send a note!





Now here's hoping I remember to get out all thise birthday cards!

Sometimes you just gotta look up.

Hey Elections are over! I for one got to the point I no longer cared who won-I simply wanted the commericals to stop. I figure with the Wall Street melt down, record unemployment we have no place to go but UP! So here's hoping.

My sister-in-law Terri (who retired and then was told by the township she worked for they would not give her the promised retirement,) finally saw a bit of justice. She ran for and won the race for Kalamazoo Township Supervisor. She is now in charge of the very people she once worked for. You gotta love America!

Meanwhile back in the neighborhood tha gang had a wonderful trick or treat-and we had weather in the upper 60's! The past week hs been in the 70's and I can't remember a nicer fall. The first quarter is completed and I graded 310 children with a letter grade, conduct and effort marks. Then promptly got the flu from all the late nights. So home sick today with no voice.

Tim is loving his job-I love the fact he soon gets a pay check! And it's hard to believe we have to start looking towards Christmas time. That way we look at things in terms of red and green instead of red and blue!

Mr. Tim answers the door! Two full containers of Bailey's Irish Cream. Cinda, Sue and I took 5 kids out for treats. We met a new neighbor and got to see their lovely house on the river Wow za! They have 2 children. Dr. Dave sat in the drive handing out beers to the Mom's and Dad who trick or treated! Tim was a Starwars Jedi, Samie was a chef, Cinda Poor white trash, Marshall a football player, little Roman a dalmation doggie. This year with the great weather we had lots of trick or treaters-about 30! Of course Miss Katie's dragon guarded the house, and Ms Kelley took pictures!